Continuous design footwear

ABSTRACT

A pair of shoes  10  have a continuous design  30  applied to the upper structures  18  of the shoes, with the left shoe  12  containing the left portion  32  of the continuous design and the right shoe  14  containing the right portion  34.  The left and right portions of the design are formed so that when the left shoe is worn on the wearer&#39;s left foot and the right shoe is worn on the wearer&#39;s right foot and the feet are brought together, the continuous design is formed and is displayed to the wearer, or to third parties observing the shoes, thereby enabling the wearer and/or third parties to discern if the shoes are being worn on the correct feet.

CROSS REFERENCE

[0001] Applicant claims the benefit of Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 60/223,815 filed Aug. 8, 2000.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present invention generally relates to footwear, and inparticular to footwear having a right shoe and a left shoe withdissimilar partial designs on each shoe that when placed together form acomplete design. This assists the wearer to visually recognize how toput each shoe on the correct foot.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] Outdoor footwear for humans typically incorporates a sole uponwhich the foot rests and an upper structure connected about theperimeter of the sole and covering the sides and the upper surfaces ofthe foot. Because of the flexibility and movement of the parts of thefoot, the typical upper structure of the shoe that is rugged enough foroutdoor use generally is formed in several parts that match the parts ofthe foot, and the parts of the upper structure of the shoe are sewntogether. Usually the parts and their stitching on the upper structureof the shoe form a visual pattern that is substantially dictated by thefunction and structure of the shoes. This results in a pair of shoeswith each shoe having a visual design that is identical to but a mirrorimage of the other shoe. The design of each shoe, although similar, doesnot form a design that is continuous from one shoe to the other shoe.

[0004] In recent years, shoes have become more decorative and moreversatile, with the upper structure being made of more flexible and moredurable materials, with more padding and support added for the foot.Some manufacturers have placed trade dress designs on the shoes for thepurpose of enhancing the look of the shoes and for identifying themanufacturer. The visual images formed by the upper covers of shoes havebecome less dependent on following the shape of the foot.

[0005] Although shoes are more design diverse, it is a difficult taskfor children and mentally disabled adult people to learn how to placeshoes on their correct feet, the left shoe on the left foot and theright shoe on the right foot. Since typical shoes match each other withreverse images, there usually is no other visual indication for theunknowledgeable person of which is the left or the right shoe and whichshoe fits what foot. Usually, the parent of the child must teach thechild that the shape of the right shoe matches the shape of the rightfoot, and the shape of the left shoe matches the shape of the left foot.This is difficult for some to learn.

[0006] Thus there is a need for designs on footwear which address theseand other shortcomings of the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] The present invention involves pairs of footwear, or shoes, witheach shoe having a design on its upper structure wherein a completedesign is formed when both the left and right shoes of a pair of shoesare worn together on the appropriate foot and the feet are broughttogether in side-by-relationship. In a preferred embodiment, a portionof the design appears on the left shoe, and the remainder of the designappears on the right shoe. Wearing the pair of shoes together on theappropriate foot forms the complete continuous design and displays thecontinuous design to the wearer or any third parties observing theshoes. An additional feature of the continuous design on the footwear isthat the continuous design assists the wearer, especially children, inputting the shoes on the proper foot.

[0008] In one embodiment, the designs on the upper structures of a pairof shoes can be incomplete mirror images that form a complete designwhen the shoes are placed on the correct feet and brought togetherside-by-side. Another embodiment includes the upper structures of a pairof shoes having images that are not mirror images, but when the shoesare placed on the correct feet and brought together the shoes form arecognizable continuous image from one shoe to the next shoe. In bothembodiments, when the shoes are placed on the incorrect feet, thecombined image formed by the pair of shoes is indiscriminate and alertsthe viewer that the shoes are on “backwards.”

[0009] When shoes of the invention are made for children, the design canbe colorful and interesting to children. Shoes for the adult can be moresubtle or can be directed to more adult interests, such as sports orhigh fashion.

[0010] Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide a pair ofshoes with improved upper structure visual designs, each shoe bearing anincomplete design that is dissimilar to the design of the other shoe butmatches with the other shoe to form a complete design.

[0011] Another object of the invention is to provide a pair of shoesthat has a visual design formed on the upper structure of each shoe thataids the wearer of the shoe to determine which shoe fits which foot.

[0012] Another object of the invention is to provide a pair of shoesthat bear an image on each shoe that when placed on the correct feet andbrought together side-by-side form a complete image, and when placed onthe wrong feet and brought together side-by-side form a mismatchedimage.

[0013] Other objects, features and advantages will become apparent uponreviewing the following specification when taken in conjunction with theattached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] The invention can be better understood with reference to thefollowing drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarilyto scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating theprinciples of the present invention. Moreover, in the drawings, likereference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the severalviews.

[0015]FIG. 1 is a perspective illustration of a pair of lace-up shoes,for adults or children, showing a continuous design extending across theupper structures of the toe portions of the shoes, with the segments ofthe design being mirror images of each other.

[0016]FIG. 2 is a perspective illustration of a pair of sports shoes,showing a continuous design formed on the upper structures of the toeportions of the shoes, with the segments of the design not being mirrorimages of each other.

[0017]FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of a pair of shoes of the typeshown in FIG. 2.

[0018]FIG. 4 is a rear elevational view of a pair of shoes, showing theheels of the shoes.

[0019]FIGS. 5 and 6 are top views of pairs of shoes, with both pairbeing sized, shaped and designed for children's wear.

[0020]FIG. 7 is a top view of a pair of shoes suitable for women's use.

[0021]FIG. 8 is a perspective illustration of a pair of women's boots.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0022] Referring now in more detail to the drawings, in which likenumerals indicate like parts throughout the several views, FIG. 1illustrates a pair of shoes that can be sized and shaped for wear bychildren or adults. The pair of shoes 10 includes a left shoe 12 and aright shoe 14. The left shoe is shaped for fitting the left foot of awearer, the right shoe is shaped for fitting the right foot of thewearer, and the left and right shoes are reversed shaped. This isconventional.

[0023] Each shoe includes a sole 16 and an upper structure 18, with theupper structure 18 being joined by adhesive, stitching or otherconventional means to the perimeter of the sole 16.

[0024] As illustrated in FIG. 3, the upper structure 18 of each shoeincludes a U-shaped perimeter wall 22 joined to and extending upwardlyfrom the perimeter of the sole 16, and shaped for extending about thetoes of the foot of the wearer (not shown). A top panel 24 is attachedat its perimeter to the upper edges of the U-shaped perimeter wall 22for covering the toes of the foot of the wearer. A heel wall 26 is alsoU-shaped and is joined at its edge to the perimeter of the sole and isshaped to extend upwardly about the heel of the foot of the wearer ofthe shoes. This leaves the opening 28 for inserting the foot into andwithdrawing the foot from the shoe.

[0025] As shown in FIG. 1, a continuous design 30 is formed on the toppanels 24 of both the left and right shoes 12 and 14 of the pair ofshoes. The design is segmented so that a left portion, or segment 32, isformed on the upper structure 18 of the left shoe 12 and the rightportion, or segment 34, is formed on the upper structure 18 of the rightshoe 14. This example is a “smiley face” design. In this embodiment, thecontinuous design 30 is formed of a pair of reverse or “mirror” images,each design portion being substantially identical to but the reverse ofthe other design portion and neither segment of the design forming acomplete design. The design portions 32 and 34 are arranged so that theyform a continuous when paired together, as when the shoes are placed onthe correct feet of the wearer and the wearer places his or her feet inadjacent, inside to inside relationship. The design portions 32 and 34of the two shoes form the continuous design 30 extending across bothshoes. Neither design portion is a complete design without the otherdesign portion.

[0026] While the continuous design 30 of FIG. 1 is formed of a pair ofreverse image portions, a continuous design across the pair of shoes canbe formed with other design portions that are not mirror images of eachother. For example, FIG. 2 illustrates a pair of sports shoes 40 havingfeatures similar to those of FIG. 1, but having a continuous design 50that is formed of dissimilar left and right design portions 52 and 54.The example of the continuous design 50 is a tomahawk and includes aleft portion 52 that is the lower portion of the handle of the tomahawkand the right portion 54 that is the blade or head portion of thetomahawk. If the shoes are placed on the correct feet of the wearer,with the left shoe on the left foot and the right shoe on the rightfoot, and the feet are brought together in side by side relationship,the left and right design portions 52 and 54 will complete thecontinuous design 50 of the tomahawk.

[0027] As illustrated in FIG. 4, similar continuous designs can beformed on the heel walls 26 of a pair of shoes, such as shoes 10 of FIG.1 or shoes 40 of FIG. 2. The continuous design can be in addition to oran alternative to the continuous design formed on the upper structure ofthe shoes.

[0028] The example illustrated in FIG. 4 is that of a swimmer, with thelower abdomen and legs on the left shoe 12 and the upper abdomen, armsand head on the right shoe 14. Again, when the left shoe is placed onthe left foot of the wearer and the right shoe is placed on the rightfoot of the wearer and the shoes are brought in adjacent side-by-siderelationship, the left and right design portions of the swimmer will beplaced adjacent each other, completing the continuous design across thepair of shoes. Neither design segment forms a complete design, but whenthe shoes are brought together as described, the compete or continuousdesign of the swimmer is formed.

[0029]FIGS. 5 and 6 are additional continuous design concepts forchildren's shoes. When forming a design on young children's shoes, itmay be more important to have mirror image left portion 44 and rightportion 46 of a continuous design 48. FIG. 5 shows a continuous designof a sunburst, with the sunburst design divided in halves, each halfbeing a mirror image of the other half. When the shoes are matchedtogether as described above, the completed continuous design 48 of asunburst is formed by the shoes. A young child is likely to learn aboutwhich shoe fits which foot when the mirror image of the left and rightdesign portions of the continuous design are mirror images of eachother, so that they “match” one another, like adjacent pieces of apuzzle.

[0030]FIG. 6 shows a similar but more sophisticated version of themirror image design portions for the left and right children's shoes.The continuous design of a butterfly 50 is formed by the mirror imagedesign portions.

[0031]FIG. 7 illustrates a pair of adult women's shoes having acontinuous design 54 formed by the shoes. In this instance, thecontinuous image is not formed by left and right mirror images, but bydissimilar mirror images 56 and 58. This provides a more sophisticatedlook for a person of more discriminating taste.

[0032]FIG. 8 shows a pair of women's boots having continuous colordesign from one boot to the other and continuous structural designfeatures from one boot to the other. As with FIG. 7, the boots of FIG. 8show left and right design portions 60 and 62 that are not mirror imagesof each other, but the designs, when mated together as described above,show a continuous design from one boot to the other.

[0033] In addition, the upper edges of the boots of FIG. 8 are shapeddifferently, yet the design of each boot forms a continuous designacross both boots of the pair of boots. This is a more sophisticateddesign feature for the discriminating adult.

[0034] It should be noted in all of the illustrated examples that if theshoes should be placed on the wrong feet, with the left shoe on theright foot and the right shoe on the left foot, the left and rightdesign portions of the shoes will form an indiscriminate design, not acontinuous matching design. For example, if the pair of children's shoesof FIG. 5 are placed on the wrong feet and the feet are broughttogether, the sunburst will not be formed. Indeed, the design of thesunburst, which is likely to be in a bright orange color, will besegmented and facing outwardly on the shoes, instead of the designportions facing together, thus forming an unrecognizable design. This islikely to alert the child and the adult caring for the child that theshoes have been improperly placed on the feet of the child.

[0035] Likewise, the shoes of FIG. 6 should also alert the child and theperson caring for the child when the shoes are placed on the wrong feet.

[0036] When the continuous design is applied to the heels of the pair ofshoes as illustrated in FIG. 4, again, the adult caring for the child oranyone positioned behind the child should immediately recognize when theshoes are placed on the wrong feet.

[0037]FIGS. 2, 7 and 8 are intended to show a continuous design formedof a matching pair of dissimilar design portions, suitable for thesports person. While a tomahawk is shown as the continuous design inFIG. 2, other sports images, and images of other types, that are moredesirable for the adult sports person can be applied, such as shown inFIGS. 7 and 8. For example, the continuous image of a sports mascotcould be segmented, with the left portion placed on the left shoe andthe right portion placed on the right shoe.

[0038] While the shoes of FIGS. 1 and 2 are shown to be more of anathletic style where there is a definite U-shaped perimeter wall 22 thatextends upwardly from the sole 16 and then a top panel 24 is formed onthe perimeter wall to cover the toes of the foot, the shoes of FIG. 7,which may be “ballerina” shoes, may have less of a departure between theperimeter wall and the top panel. Accordingly, the design of FIG. 7might extend across both the top panel 24 and the perimeter, down to thesole, assuring that the continuous design extends from one shoe to theother.

[0039] While the continuous designs illustrated herein show a singleobject divided so as to place the left portion of the continuous designon one shoe and the right portion on the other shoe, it is also withinthe scope of this invention to have a complete design on each shoe, withthe complete designs coming together to form a continuous design thatincorporates the two dissimilar designs. For example, the image of abasketball could be placed on one shoe and the image of a basketballgoal could be placed on the other shoe so that the two images togetherform a continuous design and when taken together become identifiablewith each other.

[0040] While the drawings illustrate the invention in black and white,it should be understood that the designs applied to the shoes are likelyto be in color that contrasts with the background color of the shoes.Similar color extending from one shoe to the other tends to enhance therecognition of a continuous design across both shoes.

[0041] It is important to the invention that the continuous design fromshoe to shoe be visible to the wearer in the situations where the weareris a child and relies upon the continuous design to determine if theshoes are being placed on the correct foot of the wearer. Typically,this will be on the top panels 24 of the upper structure 18 of theshoes.

[0042] As illustrated in FIG. 8, the boots can have the continuousdesign formed of different materials as well as different colors, sothat one colored segment can be formed of one material and the adjacentsegment of a different color can be formed of a different material.However, the general arrangement is that the continuous design appliedto the boots as well as to the other shoes of the drawings will beartistic rather than structural design features.

[0043] Although the footwear is described herein as “shoes,” it isintended that the expression “shoes” is to include not only conventionalshoes but also boots, sandals, athletic shoes, and other footwear forboth children and adults.

[0044] Although preferred embodiments of the invention have beendisclosed in detail herein, it will be obvious to those skilled in theart that variations and modifications of the disclosed embodiments canbe made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention asset forth in the following claims.

Therefore, having thus described the invention, at least the followingis claimed:
 1. A pair of shoes for the left and right feet of a humanwearer of the shoes, said shoes comprising: a left shoe shaped forfitting a left foot of a wearer, a right shoe shaped for fitting theright foot of the wearer, said left and right shoes being reversedshaped; each shoe having a sole on which the foot of the wearer is torest with a perimeter, and an upper structure attached to said perimeterfor covering the foot of the wearer; said upper structure of each shoeincluding a top panel for covering the toes of the foot of the wearer,the improvement therein comprising: a continuous design formed on saidtop panels of said the upper structure of said pair of shoes, saidcontinuous design continuing from one shoe to the other shoe, including:a left portion of said continuous design formed on said top panel ofsaid upper structure of said left shoe; and a right portion of saidcontinuous design formed on said top panel of said upper structure ofsaid right shoe; said left portion of said continuous design and saidright portion of said continuous design being different from each other;said left portion of said continuous design and said right portions ofsaid continuous design being formed to complete said continuous designof the pair of shoes when said left shoe is worn on the left foot of thewearer and said right shoe is worn on the right foot of the wearer andthe feet of the wearer are brought together side-by-side, and said leftportion of said continuous design and said right portion of saidcontinuous design being formed to complete an indiscriminate design whenthe left shoe is worn on the right foot of the wearer and the right shoeis worn on the left foot of the wearer and the feet of the wearer arebrought together side-by-side.
 2. The pair of shoes of claim 1, whereinsaid left portion and said right portion of said continuous design arenot mirror images
 3. The pair of shoes of claim 1, wherein said upperstructures of said shoes include a U-shaped perimeter wall having anedge joined to said sole and joined to said top panel, and said designportions extend across said U-shaped perimeter wall.
 4. A pair of shoeswherein each shoe of said pair of shoes includes a heel wall joined to asole and shaped to extend upwardly about the heel of the foot of thewearer of the shoes, and a design formed on said heel walls of each ofsaid pair of shoes, with the designs on each heel wall being differentthan the design on the heel wall of the other of said shoes and forminga continuous design from one shoe to the other shoe when the feet of thewearer are placed together side-by-side.
 5. A pair of shoes for humanfeet including a left shoe shaped to fit only a left foot and a rightshoe shaped to fit only a right foot, said shoes being of the same size,each shoe having a bottom surface for engaging the ground and an upperstructure for extending about the human foot, comprising: a portion of acontinuous visual design applied to the upper structure of each of theshoes of said pair of shoes, the portion of the visual design of eachshoe alone being incomplete and different from and not a mirror image ofthe portion of the continuous visual design of the other shoe and theportions of the continuous visual design of the shoes beingcomplementary to each other to form a matching continuous design thatextends from one shoe to the other shoe when the left shoe is placed onthe left foot and the right shoe is placed on the right foot and thefeet are placed in side-by-side relationship.
 6. The pair of shoes ofclaim 4, wherein said design portions of the shoes are formed to createand indiscriminate design that is not continuous from one shoe to theother shoe of said pair of shoes when the left shoe is placed on theright foot and the right shoe is placed on the left foot and the feetbrought together in side-by-side relationship.